A Song of Ice and Fire "Battle Damage" Action Figures Are the Day's Best Collectibles

Mick Minogue's hand-made A Song of Ice and Fire "Battle Damage" action figures are both amazing and messed up in all the right ways.

I don't watch the Game of Thrones television show but being surrounded by those who do, I've heard enough about it to know that bad things tend to happen with alarming frequency. So even though I'm not familiar with the details, I still "get" what's going on with these action figures created by Irish artist Mick Minogue.

The woodcuts were created as part of a "Winter is Coming: A Song of Ice and Fire" show at the Ltd. Art Gallery in Seattle, but they aren't actually based on the Game of Thrones television show. Minogue explained on his blog that contributors were told not to reference the HBO show, and were instead to "take influence" from George R.R. Martin's books. "This was a great idea for the artists to go deep into their imaginations and not work off likeness of or create homages to the actors involved in the TV series," he wrote.

There are only eight A Song of Ice and Fire "Battle Damage" action figures, although Minogue said he might make more, and while the work itself is fantastic, with a wonderful level of detail in both the cutting and the paint, it's the packaging that really seals the deal, turning the one-of-a-kind pieces into the kind of thing you'd see hanging on a toy department rack - a brilliant touch by any measure.